Renault-Nissan Chennai facility rolls out one millionth car

Snapshot: Renault-Nissan's Alliance plant in Oragadam near Chennai completes a production of one million vehicle.

Renault-Nissan's Chennai facility announced that the they have reached a production milestone by manufacturing its one millionth vehicle. The model to touch the one million mark was the Nissan Micra, which is the largest exported car brand from the country. This plant is the largest Alliance production facility in the world, and in March 2010 the company started operations with an initial investment of Rs 4,500 crore and an additional Rs 1,600 crore to create a powertrain manufacturing facility and tooling.

The Chennai unit serves to both domestic and international markets and has developed into India’s second-largest car exporter with more than 6,00,000 units shipped to 106 countries since 2010. And, The plant was established by the Alliance to meet the growing demand from Indian customers for high quality, locally-produced cars. It is complimented by a major R&D centre, also in Chennai, which plays a huge role in model development in India ensuring products are locally relevant.

Christian Mardrus, Chairman of Nissan's Africa, Middle East and India region, and former Alliance executive vice-president, said in a release,"I congratulate our workforce in Chennai for achieving a significant landmark in the ongoing evolution of this important plant”. Adding to this he said,"Our Chennai facility has, and will continue, to play a fundamental role in the development of our business in India. Today's milestone reflects the popularity of Nissan and Renault products in India and export markets, as well as the skill and dedication of our staff. It is also a measure of the high level of support we have enjoyed from the Tamil Nadu government," he added.

Commenting on this, Mr Colin MacDonald, Plant Managing Director of Renault Nissan Alliance India Private Ltd (RNAIPL) said,"This is a proud day for everyone associated with the plant. On average, we have launched two new models each year across three brands since 2010.” "The workforce and our supplier partners deserve enormous credit for achieving this while increasing annual production volume and maintaining world class quality levels."

Just to add to your knowledge, in that time annual production volume has risen from an initial 75,000 units in the 2010 financial year, to over 200,000 by the end of CY 2015 in March. The most recent model to be introduced at the plant was the popular Renault Kwid in September last year. This will be followed in 2016 by the third Datsun-branded vehicle to be sold in India.